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Skills Pack PDF
Skills Pack PDF
Version 2.0
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Contents
Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................ 4
Experiment: Model to determine half-life ........................................................................................................... 5
Briefing lesson: Planning and evaluating experiments ...................................................................................... 6
Lab lesson: Option 1 – run the experiment........................................................................................................ 8
Teacher notes ............................................................................................................................................ 9
Teacher method ....................................................................................................................................... 10
Lab lesson: Option 2 – virtual experiment ....................................................................................................... 11
Debriefing lesson: Extended writing skills ....................................................................................................... 12
Worksheets and answers ................................................................................................................................ 13
Briefing lesson
Debriefing lesson
Skills Pack: Model to determine half-life
Introduction
This pack will help you to develop your learners’ experimental skills as defined by assessment
objective 3 (AO3 Experimental skills and investigations) in the course syllabus.
Important note
Our Skills Packs have been written by classroom teachers to help you deliver
topics and skills that can be challenging. Use these materials to supplement your
teaching and engage your learners. You can also use them to help you create
lesson plans for other experiments.
This content is designed to give you and your learners the chance to explore practical skills. It
is not intended as specific practice for Paper 5 (Practical Test) or Paper 6 (Alternative to the
Practical Test).
There are two options for practising experimental skills. If you have laboratory facilities, this pack
will support you with the logistics of running the experiment. If you have limited access to
experimental equipment and/or chemicals, the pack will help you to deliver a virtual experiment.
This is one of a range of Skills Packs. Each pack is based on one experiment with a focus on
specific experimental techniques. The packs can be used in any order to suit your teaching
sequence.
In this pack you will find the lesson plans, worksheets for learners and teacher resource sheets you
will need to successfully complete this experiment.
One of the fundamental properties of radioactive decay is its random nature. In this experiment,
learners will model radioactive decay for a collection of atoms. This will provide them with an
opportunity to practise drawing and reading from decay curves.
This experiment has links to the following syllabus content (see syllabus for detail):
• 5.2.4 Half-life
The experiment covers the following skills, adapted from AO3: Experimental skills and
investigation (see syllabus for assessment objectives):
Prior knowledge
Knowledge from the following syllabus topics is useful for this experiment.
Going forward
The knowledge and skills gained from this experiment can be used when you teach learners about
exponential decay.
Timings Activity
Starter/Introduction
Ask your learners what they would need to record if they would like to understand how
materials change over time. If necessary, explain to them that the initial and final
condition of the material observed would need to be recorded.
What would they need to do in addition to observing the initial and final conditions if
they need to describe the change? In this case the material in question needs to be
observed several times between the initial and final conditions.
Main lesson
Check that your learners are familiar with the concepts needed for this experiment.
Ask them to work on their own to write definitions for the terms below:
• stable nuclei
• unstable nuclei
• alpha emissions
• beta emissions
• gamma emissions
• spontaneous decay of nuclei.
They should share their definitions with the person next to them and in their pairs they
should correct any mistakes. Allow them to check their definitions using a text book
after a minute or two.
Show your learners a picture of a pile of coins. Ask them to imagine that the coins
each represent an unstable atom. In small groups they should discuss what might
happen to the atoms over time.
Ask the groups to suggest how we could use the coins in an experiment to show how
unstable atoms decay. Discuss with them why throwing coins is a good example of
radioactive decay by focusing on the following facts:
• As they have two faces we can easily assign one to show a state of decay
(heads) and one as un-decayed (tails).
• The number of coins which will be taken away from the sample is defined
randomly: there is a 1 in 2 chance for each coin to land heads up.
• Unstable nuclei of a radioactive sample undergo a similar change in time.
Timings Activity
Give your learners Worksheet A which shows the data from an experiment where 60
coins are dropped from a beaker.
Your learners should use the data to draw their own decay-curve graphs. Following
this, they can then use their graph to calculate the half-life for the group of coins.
Ask each learner to write their own definition of half-life. They should have something
similar to: ‘the time it takes for the number of nuclei of the isotope in a sample to
halve’. Remind them that the radioactivity of a sample is measured as the count rate
with the unit of counts per second.
Plenary
Ask learners to record the following:
• Three reasons why using coins is a good way to demonstrate the radioactive
decay of unstable atoms.
• Two limitations of using coins to demonstrate radioactive decay.
One positive of using an object like a dice (which would have five sides assigned to
the undecayed state and one assigned to the decayed state) to show radioactive
decay.
Timings Activity
Starter/Introduction
Radioactive materials emit varying amounts of alpha, beta, or gamma radiation. The
activity of the sample decreases in time as fewer atoms in the source remain
unstable. This lesson activity models the radioactive decay.
Before you begin, check your learners’ understanding of the following statements, as
they will be testing these in their experiment.
• Radioactive decay is a random process; it is not possible to predict which
nuclei will decay when.
• The half-life of a radioactive nucleus is the time it takes for half of the nuclei to
have decayed.
Main lesson
Learners should work in pairs to carry out the experiment. They should collect the
equipment and Worksheet B which explains the method. They should record their
results in a table. A prepared table of results is provided on Worksheet C.
Safety
Circulate the classroom at all times during the experiments so that you can make
sure that your learners are safe and that the data they are collecting is accurate.
Once they have completed the experiment, learners should tidy away the equipment
and use the data to plot a decay curve for their results. Remind them that the curve
should be a smooth line of best fit.
Having plotted their decay curve, they should then mark onto their graph where one,
two and three half-lives occur. From this, they should be able to calculate the half-life
of their substance.
Now that they have completed their experiment, learners should evaluate the
strengths and weaknesses of the procedure. There is a prepared table to help them
do this on Worksheet D.
Plenary
Use Worksheet E to check your learner’s understanding of the concepts covered in
this lesson.
Teacher notes
Watch the Teacher walkthrough video and read these notes.
Safety
There are no specific risks associated with this experiment.
It is your responsibility to carry out an appropriate risk assessment for this experiment.
Teacher method
This is your version of the method. The learner method is shown on Worksheet B.
Think about:
• the number of pairs you will have
• whether using sweets or coins would be best
Experiment
Circulate during the experiment in case learners encounter any difficulties.
6. Using the data from the table, plot a graph Remind learners of the need for scaling
showing the number of sweets/coins which so that they use all of the graph paper.
remained after each throw.
Clean-up
After the experiment learners should:
• check their results are fully recorded in their table
• collect and return all of the equipment.
Timings Activity
Starter/Introduction
Radioactive materials emit varying proportions of alpha, beta, or gamma radiation
from the nuclei. The activity of the sample decreases in time as fewer atoms in the
source remain unstable. This activity models the radioactive decay.
Before you begin, check your learners’ understanding of the following statements, as
they will be testing these.
• Radioactive decay is a random process; it is not possible to predict which
nuclei will decay when.
• The half-life of a radioactive nucleus is the time it takes for half of the nuclei to
have decayed.
Main lesson
Hand out Worksheet F. They will answer on the worksheet as they watch the video.
The video will stop when they need to answer a question.
Show the video. You may like to ask learners to share their answers as you go.
Give learners Worksheet G so that they can plot a decay curve for the provided
results. Remind them that the curve should be a smooth line of best fit.
Having plotted their decay curve, they should then mark onto their graph where one,
two and three half-lives occur. From this, they should be able to calculate the half-life
of their substance.
Now that they have seen the experiment, learners should evaluate the strengths and
weaknesses of the procedure. There is a prepared table to help them do this on
Worksheet D.
Plenary
Timings Activity
Starter/Introduction
Ask learners to review their decay curves. You may want them to share their work
with other learners.
Following this, ask pairs of learners to discuss what characterises a good science
write up. They are likely to suggest things like: explains processes, uses clear
language, the writing is concise, technical language is used or data is presented
clearly. Show them Worksheet H which provides suggestions to help learners to write
scientifically.
Main lesson
Learners now need to write up their plan and methods for this experiment.
Worksheet H is available to help them scaffold their writing. This worksheet identifies
the key points learners need to include. It also provides the success criteria for the
task. Before they begin, you may also want to share Worksheet I to discuss strategies
that learners can use to improve their extended writing. For weaker learners, there
are sentence starter suggestions on Worksheet J.
Now that learners have written up these parts of the experiment, they are going to
formatively assess their work. They should swap their writing with the person next to
them. Using the success criteria, they should give each other feedback. There is a
section on Worksheet H that has space for them to identify three things their partner
has done well and one thing they need to improve. They can cut this out and glue it
in, or write the feedback straight into their partner’s lab book.
Learners should return the work to their partner. Each learner should read the
feedback they have received. They need to act on this by rewriting a section of their
work, building in the improvements that their partner has suggested.
Plenary
In the previous lesson, learners should have identified the strengths and weaknesses
of this experimental method. They should now record how they could make
improvements to the method. Remind them that each improvement must be carefully
justified.
B: Method 16 —
C: Results table 17 —
F: Virtual experiment 20 29
I: Using connectives 24 —
J: Sentence starters 25 —
To model radioactive decay, the two sides of the coins are assigned a state:
Each throw of the coins from the beaker represents 1 second in time.
Method:
1. At the start of the experiment all 60 of the coins are dropped from a beaker into a tray.
2. When the coins fall, all of those that have landed heads up are removed as they have
decayed. The number of coins that remain in the tray is counted.
3. The coins that landed tails up are put back into the beaker and dropped again. Once more,
any coin that lands heads up is removed and the remaining coins are counted.
4. This process is repeated until all of the coins have eventually landed heads up and have
been removed.
Throw
Number of coins
(represents 1 second of
remaining
time passing)
0 60
1 36
2 21
3 8
4 3
5 1
Tasks:
1. Use the data in the table above to plot a decay curve for this experiment.
2. Add a smooth line of best fit (this should be a curve).
3. Use the graph to work out how long it took for one, two and three half-lives to occur. Use
this information to calculate the half-life for this experiment.
If you are unsure of how to use the graph to calculate half-life there are instructions how to
do this on the next page.
Remember that the half-life of a substance is the time it takes for the number of radioactive nuclei
to halve. In this experiment, the radioactive nuclei are represented by the coins.
In this example, one half-life occurs when 30 of the coins have landed heads up. To work out how
long this takes, we must use our graph:
50
Number of coins remaining
40
30
20
10
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Throw (each throw represents one second)
5. To be sure that our half-life time is accurate we must measure other half-lives and take an
average.
6. We now only have 30 coins left. So another half-life will have occurred when we reach 15
coins.
7. The graph is marked in the same way and the second half-life is read off. In this case, the
second half-life occurs after 2 seconds.
8. This is repeated for a third half-life, which this happens after 3 seconds.
9. You can now take an average of the three half-lives to work out the average half-life.
Worksheet B: Method
1. Collect all of your equipment and worksheets from the front of the class.
2. Check you have 100 items in your beaker. If you need to count them out from a central supply,
make sure you do this carefully.
Make sure you know which side of your item represents the undecayed state and which shows the
decayed state.
Don’t drop the contents from too high as they might bounce out of the tray.
4. Remove any of your items that fell in the tray in the decayed state.
5. Count how many of the items fell in the undecayed state and record this in your results table.
6. Put these back in your beaker.
7. Pour the remaining items into the tray again. Remove any that fell in the decayed state and
count the undecayed ones left in the tray.
8. Record the number of undecayed items in your results table.
9. Put the undecayed items back in the beaker and throw them again.
10. Repeat this process until all of the items have fallen in the decayed state and have been
removed.
11. Make sure you make a note of the result after each throw.
12. Use your data to plot a decay curve for your experiment. Put the number of items on the y axis
and the time (throw number) on the x axis.
Make sure you label the axes and give your graph a title.
13. Use the graph to calculate the time taken for 1, 2 and 3 half-lives to occur. Take the average of
these to calculate the half-life for this experiment.
If you need help to work out the half-life from the graph, this is shown on the back of Worksheet A.
Throw number
Number of items remaining in the
(each throw represents 10 secs of undecayed state
time)
1 ……………………………………………..
2 ……………………………………………..
3 ……………………………………………..
4 ……………………………………………..
5 ……………………………………………..
6 ……………………………………………..
7 ……………………………………………..
8 ……………………………………………..
9 ……………………………………………..
10 ……………………………………………..
Use this table to identify the strengths and weaknesses of using this method to represent the
radioactive decay of nuclei.
Strengths Weaknesses
Radioactive decay is a random process. This model does not reflect the fact that
This experiment is a good model because nuclei might emit different types of
the way the items fall is also random. radiation.
……………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………
1. Some nuclei of atoms are unstable and may emit which types of particles?
Infrared light
Microwave radiation
Visible light
True
False
3. True or false? It is possible to predict which nuclei will decay at a specific time.
True
False
4. How do you describe the change in the number of remaining items after each throw in the
experiment?
It decreases
It increases
It decreases in a linear way (if you plotted a graph it would be a straight line)
………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
2. What is the possibility that one of the sweets will fall in a decayed state?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
4. Can you predict how many sweets will remain in the experiment after the next throw? Make
sure you try to explain your prediction.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Throw
Number of sweets
(each represents 10 secs
remaining
of time passing)
0 100
1 41
2 24
3 10
4 6
5 2
6 1
7 0
Tasks:
1. Use the data in the table to plot a decay curve for this experiment.
a. The number of sweets remaining after each throw should be plotted on the y axis.
b. The throw number (amount of time passed) should be plotted on the x axis.
c. Make sure you label the axes and give your graph a title.
d. Create a scale so that you use all of the graph paper.
2. Add a smooth line of best fit (this should be a curve)
3. Use the graph to work out how long it took for one, two and three half-lives to occur.
4. Take the average from this data to calculate the half-life for the experiment.
If you need help to remember how to calculate the half-life from a graph, use the information on
Worksheet A.
Writing check
1. Have you explained the background to this experiment and supported this with relevant
examples and diagrams?
2. Is it clear what data will be collected and how this can be used to model radioactive decay?
3. Are the steps in the method clear enough so that the experiment can be repeated?
4. Has it been explained how this will be made a fair test?
Check it
Read your partner’s work and look back at the success criteria.
Record three things they have done well and one thing they need to improve.
Cut along the dashed line and give this back to your partner.
The three things you have done well are:
1. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
2. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
3. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
….………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
In the table below there are examples of connectives you could use in your writing.
• therefore
These connectives help you to • this shows
show links and connections. • because
They are very useful in the • in fact
interpretation and evaluation • for example
sections. • furthermore
• in conclusion
• although
These help you to give • while
comparisons, or to show
• similarly
differences. They are very
• equally
useful in the interpretation and
evaluation sections. • unless
• whereas
Experiment plan
This section should include:
• what radioactive decay is and how it occurs
• how this model helps to demonstrate the process of radioactive decay
• what data you would expect to collect from this experiment – these are your predictions.
As the items are dropped there is 1 in 2 chance they will fall in the decayed state.
This means at each throw approximately …
Method
This section should include:
• the equipment needed and how it should be used
• the exact steps that should be taken to complete the experiment
• the steps taken to make this a fair test.
To begin the experiment, count out 100 of the items that will be used and place
them in a beaker. Next
To make this a fair test all of the objects used are the same. In addition, …
Worksheet A: Answers
60
50
Nummber of coins remaining
40
30
20
10
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Throw (each represents one second)
60
First half-life = 1.25 seconds
Second half-life = 1 second
50 Third half-life = 1 second
Nummber of coins remaining
30
20
10
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Throw (each represents one second)
Worksheet D: Answers
Use this table to identify the strengths and weaknesses of using this method to represent the
radioactive decay of nuclei.
Strengths Weaknesses
Radioactive decay is a random process. This model does not reflect the fact that
This experiment is a good model because nuclei might emit different types of
the way the items fall is also random. radiation.
Worksheet E: Answers
For each of the questions, tick the box next to the best answer(s).
1. Some nuclei of atoms are unstable and may emit which types of particles?
True
3. True or false? It is possible to predict which nuclei will decay at a specific time.
False
4. How do you describe the change in the number of remaining items after each throw in the
experiment?
Worksheet F: Answers
1. Why have we used a sweet with a clear marking to model radioactive decay?
Radioactive decay is a random process. By dropping the sweets, they too will
fall randomly. By having clear markings, we can assign one side to the decayed
state and one to the undecayed state. This means that we can remove those
that have fallen in the decayed state after each throw and begin to model the
process of radioactive decay.
2. What is the possibility that one of the sweets will fall in a decayed state?
The undecayed sweets should be collected and returned to the beaker as these
are the ones yet to emit radiation. They therefore still have the chance to
decay, unlike the others.
2. Can you predict how many sweets will remain in the experiment after the next throw? Make
sure you try to explain your prediction.
About half of the number should remain after the next throw, so
approximately 20 should be returned to the beaker. This is because each has a
50% chance of decaying, so about half of the sample will be removed.
Time